This invention relates generally to snow skiing accessories, and more specifically to a compact and portable apparatus which, in connection with a pair of ski poles, can be configured to provide a seat for a skier.
In the course of normal recreational skiing, a skier may spend hours on his feet, whether it be while skiing, waiting in a lift line or simply resting. Many skiers have found it nearly impossible to assume a comfortable rest position, even where conventional seating facilities are available, while wearing snow skis. Thus, some have sought to provide a portable seating arrangement which can be carried by the skier and used when needed, even when wearing skis.
In prior attempts to design an acceptable skiers' seat, many have sought to use flexible cords or bands which can be attached to the ski poles to form back and seat supports. Several drawbacks have been noted in connection with the use of such flexible cords or bands, however, including the inability to instantly form the skiers' seat with the ski poles, a similar inability to instantly break-down the flexible skiers' seat and resume normal use of the poles, the inconvenience of having to carry flexible bands separately from the poles while skiing, and the fact that the provision of a flexible seat between two generally vertical poles applies forces to the poles tending to damage them.
Other skiers, seat designs have been offered which provide a rigid seating surface, including the attachment of a bar between ski poles, see Wachtel, U.S. Pat. No. 2,445,344, and the provision of various seating surfaces on a single pole. Like those seats formed of flexible cords or bands, however, the prior skiers' seats which provide a solid seating surface require more assembly and disassembly than is desirable, and are sometimes of such construction as to make economical production impractical.
Accordingly, there has been a need for a novel skiers' seat apparatus which is lightweight, durable and capable of being conveniently carried on standard ski poles without any appreciable degradation in the ability of the skier to use the poles. Additionally, a need exists for a skiers' seat assembly which is of economical construction and which can be configured to provide a strong and reliable seat quickly and with a minimum of effort. Such a skiers' seat assembly must similarly be capable of instant disassembly to facilitate use in lift lines or other similar situations. Further, a skiers' seat assembly is needed which can be placed on standard ski poles now in use, without requiring modifications to the standard poles. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.